1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical circuit assembly having a substrate and a plurality of optical components mounted on the substrate, and also to a substrate assembly suitable for use in the optical circuit assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical communication system, an optical amplifier module is used which can amplify an optical signal without conversion to an electrical signal for extension of a repeater spacing. In a conventional optical amplifier module, various optical components are mounted on a metal base of aluminum or the like having high heat dissipatability, and fixed to the metal base by means of screws. Optical fibers connected to the optical components are spliced, and thereafter formed to be adjusted so that each spliced portion comes to a given fixing position. In this condition, each spliced portion is fixed to the metal base by means of a fixture. Each optical fiber is also fixed to the metal base at several positions.
Particularly in an optical amplifier for wavelength division multiplex (WDM), the number of optical components and the number of optical fibers are large, so that a sufficient mounting space cannot be ensured. Accordingly, the optical fibers are wired and formed by utilizing spaces among the optical components and the fixtures. As a result, the forming operation for the optical fibers is hindered by the fixtures. Furthermore, the forming operation becomes complicated because of the adjustment for setting the spliced portions at the given fixing positions where the fixtures are mounted. As a result, the productivity of the optical amplifier is remarkably reduced. In addition, since a space for fixing each optical component by means of screws must be ensured, the forming space for the optical fibers becomes very narrow.